Help daughter get her first deer!!??

[fishtrap3]

Any thoughts on putting the odds in our favor for getting my daughter her first deer?? We have a patch of woods about 5 acres maybe a little more to hunt the rest is open field that was put in soybeans this year. Over all about 80 acres with a stream running on the edge of the property with some trees running a little bit of it. I am just getting back into deer hunting and really would love to see my daughter get one over myself... Thanks
P.S. she is 12 and passed her gun traing and won a week trip to forkhorn camp(at eagle bluff) and had a blast and really would love to show her dad how it is done....

[This message has been edited by fishtrap3 (edited 09-07-2003).]

[protrapper]

Scout the area a few times. See where the deer are coming and going. Place a couple portables out before you plan to hunt. Keep wind direction in your favor. If you can spotlight your field at night a couple times you will learn alot about the deer movements on you parcel.

Your best bets are evening and morning. Small area like that you should be able to find a pattern. Good luck to you and your daughter.

[eyecrosser2000]

Sounds like you have a great opportunity to get your daughter her first deer. I would definitely concentrate on the soybean field early and late in the day. You may even be able to use a ground blind here so you could sit with her. Scout for doe/fawn bedding areas and hang a portable stand for mid morning hunts.

Just as importantly, I would encourage you to talk to your daughter about how she feels about shooting the first legal deer that shows or waiting for a buck. I have seen some parents put pressure on their kids to become "trophy" hunters right away and the kid never gets to taste early success. Shooting a deer isn't the only pleasure of deer hunting, but to a 12 year old it caps off all the planning and work.

Good luck. I think it is great you are working with your daughter to share the great sport of deer hunting. I can't wait until my two little girls are old enough to go!

[Mayfly]

Just curious what area of the state you are in and will be hunting.

[This message has been edited by Mayfly (edited 09-09-2003).]

[fishtrap3]

I am not wanting her to wait for that big buck as it may not come. I just want her to get her first deer but I dont want it to be a fawn.. I am in block 461 why do you ask??

[Guest]

Get a decoy (doe) and set it up in the open field near the woods. Set up her tree stand in the woods. Make sure you scout for a good location (one with plenty of deer tracks).

Good luck.

[Insp Gadget]

Might want to check with the farmer about harvest date for the beans. The crops are done early this year thanks to the drought and some early picking will change patterns as gun season approaches. I'd hate for you to show up at 5:30am on opener and find the field is plowed edge to edge for a week before. If it will be, I'd look to the woods along the creek!

Good luck! My 13 yr old is looking for his first too. No sighting last year and he wore out after the first weekend.

[Insp Gadget]

Just another thought after re-reading your post. It appears that the woodlot is a stand alone piece of woods. (all open around it?) If so, by the second or t3 day, I'd bet the deer will be bedded in there by day break due to hunting pressure. Might want to scope out a way for her to sneak up to the most likely exit route and post up behind a bush or clump of grass, can even sit in the plowed field. (stream or thicker brush grass ravine or shortest route to next cover etc will be likely exit route.) When she is in place, 100 yards away from woods min! You sneak in from 1/2 mile away from the opposite side and then tromp around the woods. The deer will likely tear out of the end she's on, and then slow a bit after they think they are far enough away from you. That puts them slowing down right where she is. Plus, she needs to stay back so they don't see/hear her sneak in. you come from way far so they see you in advance and make there plan to go the opposite way. This has worked like a charm for us in a very similar woodlot.

Maybe even do this every afternoon after school until you kick deer out of it. You also can not come from the side or expect to walk her in and circle around, we got busted every time we tried that. Drop her off, hopefully the preffered route will be down wind of the woods, let her walk in and drive around or walk to a point on the exact opposite side, and then walk straight in. Our deer always bust out the other end when the pusher is about 2 steps into the wood lot! Try to put her 50 yards off the exit route if it can be pinpointed. Then for sure she won't be tempted to shoot toward the woods, and she will see the deer coming as soon as they come out.

Sorry if I'm being too specific, not trying to tell you how to hunt, but just want you to learn from our mistakes. poster too close, deer see him and leave before driver comes in, driver comes in from to close an angle and deer exit wrong side of woods, posting right on exit route and run directly at and one time over poster, drop off young poster and try to walk around by 300 yards at bottom of hill and deer figured it out and went out wrong end, etc. they gave us lots of chances over two years and we finally learned.

[fishtrap3]

Thanks for the great info guys!!!!! I need all the help I can get...